Pressure printing card



July 14 1970 R. HEANEY E 2 rnzssum-z PRINTING cum Filed June 22. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY July 14, 1970 HEANEY ETAL PRESSURE PRINTING CARD Filed June 22. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. RICHARD HEANEY CHESTER SZYMANSKI AT TORNE Y United States Patent 3,520,757 PRESSURE PRINTING CARD Richard Hcaney, 1383 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, Calif. 95008, and Chester Szymanski, 2305 Price Way, San Jose, Calif. 95124 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 540,377, Apr. 5, 1966. This application June 22, 1967, Ser. No. 649,084

Int. CI. 13321) /28, 7/02, 29/02 US. Cl. 161--2 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of the application of Richard Heaney et al., Ser. No. 540,377, filed Apr. 5, 1966 for Pressure Printing Card, assigned to the FMC Corporation now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a pressure printing ticket or card of the type which is so prepared that a punch or type member, upon being forced against the card while the latter is backed up, not only impresses the member but causes a color-difierentiated lineation of the impres- S1011.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART This invention represents an improvement over pressure-sensitive members shown in the US. Pats. to Green, 2,299,683, Oct. 20, 1942 and Kallock 2,299,991, Oct. 27, 1942.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an exemplary form of the invention a laminated public transportation ticket, having a coordinate grid on the face of the cover sheet, is impressed with a punch at a selected grid zone to show current ticket value. The ticket is laminated up from a base layer of bristol paper, and intermediate layer of color material, which may be a dyed kraft paper, and a cover sheet (the grid sheet) of white sulfite paper.

The punch (e.g. an X) has tapered sidewalls, and the punch is impressed into the ticket, but without forming a punchout piece. The cover sheet is locally stretched along the sidewalls of the punch which necks down or thins out the sheet along the sides of the wall of the groove or indentation made by the punch. This produces a Readthrough Line or zone through which underlying color material is visible to the naked eye. Thus, the punch mark itself has the appearance of a printed indicium (such as an X), even though no printing process in the usual sense is required, and no punch-out pieces are removed from the ticket.

The advantages of the card of the present invention are:

(1) 'Although the card is pressure-sensitive enough to delineate the format of the punch or pressure applying device, it is not sufficiently pressure-sensitive to be marked by ordinary handling.

(2) The card can be formed of laminated sheet materials which are economical and can be cut into the desired size.

(3) The materials of the card can be made durable enough to withstand normal handling during the transaction life of the card without introducing problems of pseudo-printing on the card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan of a typical transportation ticket or card, having a coordinate-grid printed on the outer face for reception of the printing indicia.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the card with parts peeled away to show its construction.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged end view of a typical punch used to mark the card.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged section of a portion of the punch taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the punch as viewed from line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a greatly enlarged partial section through the card and punch at completion of the indentation step.

FIG. 7 is a somewhat enlarged plan of the completed mark.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are modified forms of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a view like FIG. 6 showing how fibers of the cover sheet are made visible.

FIGS. 11 13 are sections like FIG. 6 showing other forms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A public transportation Ticket T, having a coordinate grid 10 printed on its outer face, is shown in FIG. 1. Also seen in this figure is a mark X made in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the construction of the Ticket T wherein the various layers thereof have been peeled away. There is a base layer 12 made of a relatively tough paper such as a bristol stock. There is an intermediate color sheet 14 made of kraft paper, dyed to produce a color that is clearly in contrast with that of the cover sheet 16. For example, if the cover sheet 16 is white, the color sheet 14 will be dyed a dark color, such as black. The cover sheet 16 may also be termed the grid sheet in that it has printed thereon the coordinate-grid 10, shown in FIG. 1.

The grid sheet 16 is of tougher stock than the color sheet 14. For example the grid sheet 16 will be made of a white sulfite paper, whereas the color sheet 14 will be made of a kraft type paper dyed black. The color sheet paper is somewhat softer in texture than the paper of the grid sheet. In the preferred form of the invention, and as shown in FIG. 6, which is drawn on a greatly enlarged scale, the base sheet 12 will be in the order of 0.10 inch thick whereas the color sheet 14 and the grid or cover sheet 16 may be in the order of 0.030 inch thick.

The adhesive layers 18 and 20 are largely absorbed during cure, and hence do not aifect the printing operation to be described. The nature of the adhesive is not critical to the invention, it is selected in accordance with the usage which the card must Withstand.

A typical Punch P for use with the card of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. The indentation end of the punch is shaped in the form of an X in accordance with the mark to be printed on the card. The branches or limbs 24 of the X have tapered side walls 26, which have an included angle b (FIG. 6) of 40 degrees. The face, or extreme end of each branch 24 of the punch is indicated at 28. This end is not sharpened but is flat or convex in order not to cut through the cover sheet 16 on a sheet beneath it. In fact, the corners are broken and indicated at 30 to further insure against cutting during the punching operation. The overall width of the end 28 is 0.10 inch in the present example.

FIG. 6 shows the condition of the Card T of the invention at the completion of the marking stroke before 3 the Punch P has been withdrawn from the card. There is no piercing, the Punch P has indented without cutting or breaking the grid sheet 16, the color sheet 14 or the base sheet 12. The outer two laminations, however, are deformed into a groove or a channel, as seen in FIG. 6. The base 12 is only slightly bulged.

Along each side wall of this channel, that is at an intermediate zone of the side walls 26 of the punch branches, a Read-through Line or zone a is produced by the printing operation. In this zone, the cover sheet 16 is locally stretched along the groove wall, and the cover sheet correspondingly necks down. The pressure of punch is such that in zone a, fibers of the color sheet 14 are impacted into the interstices of the fibers of the grid sheet 16, and vice-versa. Fibers f the color sheet 14 are thus brought either through to the surface of the cover sheet 16, or close enough to the surface thereof so that the colored fibers are visible through the remaining fibers of the cover sheet. The papers referred to, namely the sulfite and kraft papers for the grid and color sheets respectively, are such as to permit this read-through or printthrough action at the zone a just described.

The result of this marking action shown diagrammatically in FIG. 6, is the delineation of an X as seen in FIG. 7. The print-through zone forms a dark border all around the X-shaped groove formed by the punch. This intermediate border reads out at an X. Experience has shown that this card, although it can be marked to provide human-readable data as shown, without exces sive pressure and without cutting the card, will Withstand unexpectedly hard usage without danger of inadvertent or even semi-deliberate print-through forging.

FIG. -8 shows a modified Card T1. Here, the cover sheet, indicated at 16A may be formed of white sulfite paper as before. In this form, there is no separate color and base sheet. The color sheet, indicated at 14a, is formed of dyed kraft paper as before, but this is now thick enough to also provide the backing function of the base sheet 12 of the form previously described. The response of the Card T1 to the printing or marking op eration is substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 shows another form of the invention which provides the results desired in a somewhat different manner. Here the cover sheet 16b is made of a sulfite paper and the base 12b is made of a paper such as cover bristol as in the form of FIGS. 1, 2 and 6. However, in place of a color sheet formed of kraft paper, in this form a relatively thick layer 36 of dyed glue is employed to join the cover sheet 16b to the base sheet 12b. The dye employed is incorporated in the glue before the latter is spread onto the base or cover sheet. The dye must penetrate into the adjacent fibers of both the base and the cover sheet. An aniline type dye or any conventional penetrating dye that meet these specifications can be used.

When the Card T2 of FIG. 9 is punched, an action much like that shown in FIG. 6 takes place except, that here the colored fibers that are forced towards the surface of the groove at the walls 26 of the punch do not emanate from a separate sheet of paper, but rather are colored fibers that have been dyed at the interface of the two sheets during application of the glue layer. Thus, it can be seen that we have provided a self printing, pressure-responsive ticket or card, which has the advantage of resisting print-through except under controlled conditions, employs the most economical materials, and will not exhtibit pseudo-printings during ordinary usage even though such usage might be quite severe.

FIG. 10 shows a form of the invention that is essentially like that of the form of FIG. 9. The construction of this form and the action during punching is illustrated in accordance with the diagram of FIG. 6 showing the operation of the first described form of the invention.

In the form of the invention shown in FIG. 10, the cover sheet 16c is made of paper which can be stretched and thinned by the Punch P, as in the previous forms.

4 The laminate 14c underneath the cover sheet 160 can also be of paper but as will be seen, insofar as the printthrough effect is concerned, it is immaterial whether or not the laminate 14c is of paper or of some nonfibrous material.

The laminate 14c and the cover sheet 160 are joined by a coating of dyed glue 36c as in the form of the invention described in connection with FIG. 9. However, the dye effect of the glue 3160 need only penetrate into the fibers of the cover sheet 16c, as indicated by the thickened line portions 38 of the fibers of the color sheet. Of, course, glue and dye will also penetrate into pores between the fibers, but this effect is not illustrated, for clarity. Thus, it has been found that when the card of this form is punched, dyed fibers and dye adjacent the interface between the sheets 14c and 16c become visible through the thinned out, or locally stretched zone or portion a of the cover sheet. Actually, as explained in connection with the form of FIG. 9, it is immaterial whether the dye and colored fibers are visible in the zone a emanate from the cover sheet 16c or from material beneath the cover sheet. Thus, in the broader aspects of the invention, the exact nature of the laminate 14c underlying the cover of sheet 160 is not critical. So long as there is colored material adjacent the interface of 140 and 160, which material is not visible before the punching operation, but which is rendered visible when the zones a are necked down as described by the punch, the desired effect will be attained.

In FIG. 10, a break 40 is indicated in broken lines, which break may occur due to the wedging action of the Punch P on the laminates. Although this break or tear at the base of the punched indentations may be visible when one holds the ticket up to the light, the occurrence of such a break has no effect upon the principles of the present invention. The visual impression of the punch zone is still obtained principally and primarily from the thinned out or see-through zones a at the side walls of the punch.

FIG. 11 shows a modification wherein the thinned out or necked down portion a of the cover sheet 16d, which is of paper stock such as that described in connection with the previous forms, exposes a colored layer of glue or adhesive 36d. This adhesive bonds the cover sheet 16:! with the underlying laminate 14d, which in this instance is formed of a flexible sheet plastic material. The adhesive need not include a penetrating dye, but should present a color layer. As to the layer 14d, typical plastic materials suitable for this use are the polyethylenes, polypropylenes, the fiuoro-carbon plastics, the vinyl-polymer plastics, and others which can be sheeted out and which are flexible and soft enough to withstand indentation without shattering under the action of the punch.

A base laminate, such as the base laminates 12, 12b and previously described is not illustrated in the form of the invention shown in FIG. 11. When a plastic laminate such as that of 14d, FIG. 11 is employed, it may be feasible or even desirable to omit the third or base or laminate, because of the added strength in resistance and wear resistant properties of the plastic laminate 14d.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of the invention wherein the cover sheet 16c and the underlying laminate 1412 are both formed of a plastic material. These sheets of plastic are joined by a dyed adhesive or bonding agent 2362 which provides the color material necessary to render the punch mark clearly visible. The cover sheet 16a is formed of a plastic that is translucent without being transparent, or the surface thereof may be one with a ground glass or milky appearance so that the underlying cover layer 36:: is not normally visible through the cover sheet. However, when the cover sheet 16c is necked down or thinned out at a, as before, it is rendered sufiiciently transparent by the punching or printing operation, that the colored bonding agent 36:: becomes visible along the lines or see-through zones 0, thereby rendering the punch mark visibly delineated.

The form of FIG. 13 has a cover sheet 16f of translucent plastic material like the layer 16c previously described, but here the underlying laminate 14 although it is also a plastic material, embodies pigments, or the like, to impart color thereto, during the compounding of the starting material of the plastic before it is sheeted. Under this form of the invention, the color of the underlying laminate 14) is not apparent before the card is punched, because the cover sheet 16] is only translucent and hence is effectively opaque to the color of the underlying laminate 14 However, when the cover sheet 16 is thinned out or stretched locally at a, the cover sheet 16;, because of the substantial decrease in thickness thereof at zone a, is converted at that zone from a merely translucent material into a substantially transparent material, thereby rendering the punch mark visible, as previously described. The plastic sheets 14 and 16 are bonded or adhesively joined in accordance with common practice.

Although the invention is not limited to a card or member which is used as a railroad or other transportation ticket, the latter is one of the uses to which the invention may be put. In broader terms, the invention is useful in connection with cards and suitably designed printing apparatus in any credit value transaction, wherein the card is to be carried about between printings and hence might be subject to rough usage. The card of the present invention can also be used for other than credit transactions, which require the printing of human-readable data solely by the application of pressure from a punch-type dye or the like.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having completed a detailed description of the invention so that those skilled in the art could practice the same we claim:

1. A print-through sheet member comprising adhesively joined cover and base sheets of paper with a colored layer of paper fibers at the joint interface of a color that contrasts with the color of the cover sheet, said cover sheet being formed of a paper that is substantially nontranslucent, which when indented by a printing punch, is soft enough to be permanently thinned by the punch and partially penetrated by said colored layer fibers along a zone delineated by the wall of the punch, the penetration being sufficient to render the superjacent layer of cover sheet translucent to the colored layer of fibers.

2. The sheet member of claim 1, wherein said cover sheet is a thin sulfite stock paper, and said colored layer of fibers is a sheet of kraft paper.

3. The sheet member of claim 1, wherein said colored layer of fibers contains a dyed glue.

4. A print-through sheet member comprising joined cover, colored and base sheets of paper with said colored sheet being of a color that contrasts with the color of the cover sheet, said cover sheet being formed of a paper which is substantially non-translucent and which when indented by a printing punch, is soft enough to be elongated and permanently thinned by the punch, and partially penetrated by the colored sheet fibers alOng a zone delineated by the opposed side walls of the punch, the penetration being sufiicient to render the superjacent layer of cover sheet translucent to the colored sheet fibers.

5. The sheet member of claim 4, wherein said cover sheet is a thin sulfite stock paper, and said colored sheet is of kraft paper stock.

6. A print-through sheet member comprising adhesively joined sheets of paper with a colored layer of paper fibers at the joint interface of a color that contrasts with the color of one of said sheets, at least one of said sheets being formed of a paper which is substantially nontranslucent and which when indented by a printing punch, is soft enough to be permanently thinned by the punch and partially penetrated by said colored layer of fibers along a zone delineated by the punch, the penetration being sufiicient to render the fiber-penetrated sheet translucent to the colored layer of fibers so that the punch mark is readable.

7. A print-through sheet member comprising a paper cover sheet adhesively joined to a base sheet by an adhesive which colors the paper fibers at the joint interface without visible color penetration to the surface of the cover sheet, said cover sheet paper being substantially non-translucent and formed of a stock, which when indented by a printing punch, is soft enough to be permanently thinned along a zone delineated by the side wall of the punch, the thinning of the cover sheet being sufficient to render the colored interface portion of the cover sheet visible through said thinned zone of the cover sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,825,796 10/1931 Himmell 283-8.2 2,961,334 11/1960 Clancy et al 1l736.7 3,014,301 12/1961 Grupe l1736.7 X 3,079,271 2/1963 Kranz 117-36.7 3,236,717 2/1966 Adhikary 117-367 3,247,006 4/1966 Hoge et al. 11736.7

JOHN T. GOOLKASIAN, Primary Examiner C. B. COSBY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

3554, 61; l0l-l28.2; 117-8.5; 161-6, 138. 268'. 28228; 2838.2, 27

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,520,757 July 14, 1970 Richard Heaney et a1.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, lines 3 to 5, "Richard Heaney, 1383 E. Campbell Ave. Cam' bell, Calif. 95008, and Chester Szymanski, 2305 Price Way, San ose, Calif. 95124" should read Richard Heaney, Campbell, and Chester Szymanski, San Jose, Calif. assignors to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif.

a corporation of Delaware Signed and sealed this 16th day of March 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLEB, IR.

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

